Folding stool



(No Model.)

A. G. ANDERSON. FOLDING STOOL.

No. 451,102. Patented Apr. 28, 1891;

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Shoe/14130 z his UNITED STAT S PATENT, FFICE.

ANDY e. ANDEnsoN, on sIoUX CITY, IOWA.

FOLDING STOOL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 451,102, dated April 28, 1891.

Application filed October 16, 1890. Serial No. 368,288. (No model.)

T at whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANDY G. ANDERSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Sioux City, in the county of W'oodbury and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful- Improvements in Folding Stools; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates, in general, to that class of chairs called folding stools, and particularly to that class of stools in which a piece of carpet or other Webbing serves as the seat.

The object of the invention is, first, to adapt the stool-frame to stretch the webbing-seat tightly, and, second, to fold the frame into small compass for packing away when not in service, or for transportation.

To this end my invention consists in the construction and combination of parts forminga folding stool, hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which 7 Figure 1 is a view of a stool according to my invention as seen from one side. Fig. 2 is a view thereof as seen from the front or rear. Fig. 3 is a side view of the same when folded, and Fig. 4 shows a detail on a larger scale.

5 represents the two body-braces, each made of one thin strip of metal comprising the two sides 6 and the cross portion 7.

8 represents the seat consisting of carpet or other flexible sheet material secured at its front and rear edges to the cross-bars 9, which are rigidly fixed to the sides 6.

10 represents the legs, which are similar in form to the body-braces, each leg comprising two sides 11 and across portion 12, all in one piece. The cross portion 12 is adapted to rest on the ground when in service, and it forms a broad foot which will not indent the floor nor be buried into the ground when in service as a camp-stool.

The legs are pivotally secured at their upper ends to their respective bodyportlons by rivets or bolts 13, on which they may swing freely to permit the chair to stand, as shown in Fig. l, or to be folded, as shown in Fig. 3.

'14 is a bail pivotally attached to each pair of sides 6.

15 is a similar bail pairing with the one above it and pivotally attached to each pair of legs 11, and 16 is a series of links forming a chain connecting the bails-of each pair, respectively. lVhen the stool is folded, these bails and chains flexibly adapt themselves to the folded position; but when the stool is unfolded the effort to draw the pairs of legs toward each other into a standing position straightens the links and chains, thereby drawing downward and outward on the bodybraces and stretching the flexible seat into a taut condition for service 17 represents ahook-bar pivoted at one end upon a rivet or stud 18, which projects from one leg and provided with ahook 19, adapted to engage a stud 20, projecting from the opposite leg, whereby the legs will be held in a standing position, straining, as before described, upon the seat to stretch the latter.

\Vhen the bar 17 is unhooked from the stud 20, the legs and braces are set free to be folded together, and the said bar 17 may be laid along the leg to which it is pivoted. In order that the seat may be properly strained after it shall have become lengthened by service, I provide a series of holes 24, any one of which may be set to engage the pivotal stud 18 by means of a connecting-slot 22 between the holes, the pivotal stud 18 being made narrow enough vertically to pass along said slot when the bar is in a vertical position, and wide enough vertically to engage the holes 21 and not pass along the slot when the bar is horizontal, as in service. There may be any suitable number of the holes 24, and the bar 17 may be duplicated on the opposite side of the stool. While I propose to make the braces and legs of steel and the bails and links of malleable iron, yet any other suitable material may be used therefor.

Carpetiug, cloth, leather, sheet-rubber, or other flexible sheet material may be used for the seat. Possibly cords or wires might be substituted for the bails and links, and for the purposes of my chain I term all such equivalent devices flexible stays.

The two body-braces 5 are joined together by means of hinges 21, attached to the cross portion 7, whereon the two portions swing when the stool is to be folded or unfolded.

The leg-pivots are located upon the bodybraces at some distance above the hinges of the latter, in order, first, that they may serve to some extent to balance each brace, rendering the stool more secure and less dependent on the vertical stays, and, second, in order that when the legs are folded up their cross portions and hail attachments will pass freely over the top of the body and fold closely together. The hinges being attached to the cross portions, which are integral with the body-braces, render the stool more firm and less dependent on the free stays for security.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I believe to be new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is the following:

1. The combination of hinged legs of a folding stool, each leg being provided with a projecting stud or rivet, and a hook-bar pivoted upon one of the said studs and adapted to engage its hook removably with the other stud, the said hook-bar having in it a series of holes connected by a narrower slot, and

the said pivotal stud being narrow in one direction to pass along the said slot and broad in the other direction to pivotally engage any one of the said holes, substantially as described.

2. The combination of two pairs of parallel body-braces having a cross portion at the lower end of each pair integral therewith, hinges connecting these cross portions, crossbars secured between the upper ends of the body-braces and a flexible seat attached thereto, two pairs of legs pivoted at their upper ends to the said braces, and each pair having at its lower end a cross portion integral with the said legs, removable connections between the pairs of legs, and the said pivots of the legs being located upon the bodybraces above the hinge-joint of the braces, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature inpresence of two witnesses.

ANDY G. ANDERSON.

\Vitnesses:

JAY E. MORRIS, J. B. GRIFFIN. 

